VW cuts output in Wolfsburg over Slovenia floods - report

Slovenian supplier KLS Ljubno, which delivers toothed rings for internal combustion engines, is unable to resume production following the floods, the DPA news agency quoted Volkswagen's purchasing director Dirk Grosse-Loheide as saying on Monday.

Volkswagen intends to introduce a plan on how to cope with the shortage of deliveries and hopes to solve the issue by the end of the year, Grosse-Loheide said on the sidelines of the IAA Mobility trade fair in Munich.

KLS Ljubno is intensively working on the repair of its factory and might be able to restart production operations earlier than originally planned so that supplies could flow even before November, Slovenian public broadcaster RTV quoted KLS Ljubno CEO Bogomir Strasek as saying.

The German car manufacturer is supporting KLS Ljubno in cleaning its factory and resuming production activities, Grosse-Loheide said. "This is an excellent supplier, of course we want to keep them," he noted.

Volkswagen has already reduced production at its plant in Hanover and will completely suspend the output at its Portuguese factory in Palmela starting September 11, DPA reported.

Last month, KLS Ljubno said its production facilities in the Loke industrial zone were completely destroyed by the floods that ravaged Slovenia on August 4 and 5. The damage to machinery and equipment at the factory is estimated at between 30 million euro ($32 million) and 50 million euro, Strasek said back then.

($ = 0.93056 euro)